"stage box" for home synth studio

[no-fi]

so... I've got myself a run of 16 way balanced audio snake, now I need to put it to use.

I want to make a stage box to go across the room from the patchbay right under my mixer, to a big a-frame with a bunch of smallish things on it.

Now - I plan to wire it up balanced, but it'll run unbalanced for now, because most of the stuff I want to run through it for now is unbalanced line level. (though I'm slowly getting a small selection of stuff that runs balanced now)

I want to run 1/4" TRS jacks and sockets, and I want to run the two conductors to T, R and the shield to sleeve.

I'm just unsure as to the best way to have shielding organised..

I found a nice diecast box I can fit 16 1/4" sockets into, and I think I want diecast for shielding and physical sturdyness purposes.

Just wondering - should I use panel insulated sockets? if I don't, all shield conductors of the snake will be joined at the box. And I can't make up my mind 100% if this is good or bad... though i suspect it's asking for trouble.

Right now I'm leaning towards no sleeve connection to the box, plus a ground lift toggle switch (SPST) to break the shield connection of the cable to sleeve of the socket if needed in a balanced application.

so - is my plan making sense, or what?


What do they do in stage boxes?
:-)

[Kurt]

Pretty sure the connectors on stage boxes are isolated from the case and each other. I may well be completely wrong though ;)

[no-fi]

I liked the idea of connecting shield to case, as that makes the case a big shield too. Where unconnected, it's nothing. But now I think of it, if I keep the cores inside each shield and only break them out *just* as they get to the sockets, then I'm not giving too much area for interacting with electromagnetic fields anyway...


So how about the shield/gnd lift idea for each socket? is that functionality worth it??? It would be nicer with slide switches but no way am I cutting out 16 rectangular holes, it'd have to be toggles!

[Futureman]

I recon you are thinking too much about it.. :]

I've never seen a stage box with switches to connect ground to the case.. just leave em isolated from each other and the case, like an audio extension cable would be.

The small area that the cables are unshielded (just before the socket) is going to have p#ss all effect on interference.
Especially as you will be using line level signals from your synths.

Regards
Mike

[Thirteen]

I think that Jands at Mascot sell pre-punched and powder coated metalwork for stage boxes.

[no-fi]

yeah I probably am thinking too much about it - but if I hadn't thought about it at all, then I'd have made it with the sleeve of all sockets connected together with the box.... so glad I thought about it a bit.

I guess I just want to do the best job I can, seeing that my system runs pretty noisy when the desk has everything plugged in and on, and all its channels up to a working input level - anything i can do to reduce adding extra noise will make a difference.

Anyway - I'm starting on the plug side now, because I have 16 balanced plugs already. Will probably order the box, sockets, and cable gland on monday, once I decided what exact sockets I want to buy. I'm currently looking to see if I can easily get ones that take 1/4" plugs as well as XLRs. Even though I don't see why I'd need it...
:-)


I'll leave ground breaking/lifting alone.


That prepunched and screened jands box looks really nice, if I end up going with XLR sized sockets.

[Thirteen]

Really with synths it is usually best to DI them anyway.

[Futureman]

Really with synths it is usually best to DI them anyway.

Really? For a home studio setup?

Do you think it's realistic to plug 15 or so synths and drum machines into individual DI's when just plugging then into the desk via it's line input would be fine?

Regards
Mike

[mfdu]

putting the synths in via unbal line input on the console is what it's there for. DI would only be needed if you were using the mic level input, as the synth output would be too hot.

[Thirteen]

Really with synths it is usually best to DI them anyway.

Really? For a home studio setup?

Do you think it's realistic to plug 15 or so synths and drum machines into individual DI's when just plugging then into the desk via it's line input would be fine?

Regards
Mike

Depends on your console and synths. Pro console line inputs are balanced +4dB inputs, synths usually have unbalanced -10dB outputs. If you have a console with nice mic pre's then a synth through a passive transformer DI lets you record your synth through your mic pre's. Also it is really nice to have a ground lift switch if the synth is causing mains hum, for instance from an earth loop through the centre pin of the MIDI lead.

If I was making a stage box for my synths, I would look into putting transformers and switches in there as basic DI's, you could probably do this very cheaply. Mind you if your console mic pre's are crap, then there is not much point....

If it's a short run to an average console than yes, you may as well just run the stage box into the desk line inputs, but I would get a couple of DI's anyway for those times that you have level or hum issues.

[no-fi]

Well.. the plug end is all nicely terminated now.
Busy day at work, so I didn't get around to ordering the bits for the box end yet.

This box is for running back to a patchbay, not my actual mixer. generally from there it will go to the mixer, but could also be getting patched to an FX unit or something else, so best to keep it all unbalanced.

I've never owned a DI, but having had a few hums and buzzes with various gear connected up in various ways, I'm definitelty DI-curions.. :-p

I made a little transformer box with a little $2 transformer form jaycar a while ago... just to run stuff through and see if I could hear if it did anything to the sound. well.. not very much interesting happens in there at at line level, thats for sure... :-) could always turn that into a DI, I suppose.

[no-fi]

oh - I finished this a few weeks ago (weirdness at work meant I had trouble ordering personal things through work, and I stuffed about waiting till i could place an order... then I finished up at my job a few weeks ago - new one starting this week! yay! - so figured I should just go and order all my stuff I wanted for myself...)


http://www.flickr.com/photos/57756854@N ... 057609003/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/57756854@N ... 057609003/

[no-fi]

oh yeah - and for anyone interested, I was really happy to find out when buying the bits for this that soanar plus http://soanarplus.com actually sells to individuals, not just companies like they used to... this is good, because it means you can buy anything you want from jaycar (minus the chinese plastic toy crap) at about half price. which works out well if you want a big bunch of things.. (plus also they handle schroff rack kits and other cool stuff jaycar doesn't touch)